Piątkowska was a member of Legia Warsaw athletics club,[2] and the University Sports Association of Poland.

[1] At the 1962 European Athletics Championships, Piątkowska, Teresa Ciepły, Barbara Sobotta, and Elżbieta Szyroka won the 4 × 100 metres relay race.

[3] In 1964, Piątkowska, Irena Szewińska, Halina Górecka, and Ewa Kłobukowska set the 4 × 100 metres relay world record in Łódź, Poland.

[3][5] Piątkowska was born Maria Ilwicka in Goleni, Kingdom of Romania, and after the Second World War her family moved to Masuria, Poland.

[3] She was later married to Polish discus thrower and national record holder Edmund Piątkowski.